Backup Linemen Do The Job

NFL Game Day - Dolphins 34, Bills 27

November 26, 2001|By Chris Perkins, Dolphins Correspondent

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Miami Dolphins center Heath Irwin, a last-minute replacement for Tim Ruddy, surveyed his fellow offensive linemen. They were a hurting, makeshift group Sunday, but they were happy.

Though two starters were out -- Ruddy with a right knee injury, guard Mark Dixon with a broken his right leg -- the line played a big role in Miami's 34-27 win over Buffalo.

The patchwork line gave quarterback Jay Fiedler enough time to throw two touchdown passes to rookie wide receiver Chris Chambers in the final 4:07 to fuel the come-from-behind victory.

"You've got a group out there that's battling and playing hard," Irwin said. "It takes a lot of guts to get a group like that to go out and play."

Right tackle Todd Wade has a sore left knee and a sore back. Right guard Todd Perry has a bad knee. Irwin started and played the entire game at center, something he never had done in a six-season NFL career. Left tackle Spencer Folau is the third starter at that position this season. And when Dixon went down in the first quarter, rookie Troy Andrew was pressed into action for the rest of the game.

All the while, Irwin and Andrew had to battle Buffalo defensive tackle Pat Williams, who is emerging as one of the NFL's best at his position. By the fourth quarter, they had the 310-pounder somewhat under control.

"It hurt our running game some," Dolphins Coach Dave Wannstedt said of the offensive line changes. "Pat Williams is having a Pro Bowl year at defensive tackle. We couldn't block him."

Ruddy said he should return next week, and while the Dolphins aren't saying anything specific about Dixon, his broken right fibula might not be that bad.

"Sometimes, you look at an X-ray and it doesn't tell you the extent of the injury because there could be soft tissue portions of it also," said Kevin O'Neill, the Dolphins' head trainer. "We're going to look at it again [today] before we make a total evaluation of what we've got."

But the linemen weren't too worried about the immediate future.

"I think we're going to look at [the film] and see things we could have done better," Irwin said. "But I think right now the high is just so awesome having won."